Journey to Nowhere
by silentrose24
Summary: Kagome and Inuyasha disappeared 15 years ago. But why? Their daughter Kohana finds out on her fifteenth birthday, and decides to set out on a nearly aimless journey with one goal in mind: to find her parents.
1. A Secret Revealed

Journey to Nowhere  
  
By silentrose24  
  
Summary: Kagome and Inuyasha disappeared 15 years ago. But why.? Their daughter Kohana finds out on her fifteenth birthday, and decides to set out on a nearly aimless journey with one goal in mind: to find her parents. AU, R&R please  
  
Author's Note: This is the first fic I have ever written, so it's probably pretty bad. But please read it and review it, because I really, really want to improve.  
  
Chapter 1:  
  
A Secret Revealed  
  
~Kohana's House~  
  
Morning, grandma!" Kohana called out cheerily as she pranced into the kitchen. It was her fifteenth birthday, and she was pretty sure that just about nothing could bring her down today.  
  
"Ohayo, Kohana." Kohana's grandmother smiled. "Happy birthday!"  
  
Kohana grinned. "Thanks, grandma." Kohana swung her book bag over her back and gave her grandmother a hug. She glanced at her watch quickly. "Oh, gosh, I really gotta go. Bye, grandma!"  
  
"Bye, Kohana." Mrs. Higurashi continued to smile until the door clicked shut. Then, a worried look came over her face.  
  
She was hiding something from Kohana.  
  
'It's for her own good,' thought Mrs. Higurashi. 'If I told her, she would just think I was crazy.  
  
And what teenager wants to hear that their parents are probably dead?'  
  
~At School~  
  
Kohana walked down the hall, stopping in front of her locker. As she knelt down to unlock it, her two friends Michiko and Akina crept up behind her and shouted: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KOHANA!!!"  
  
Kohana, startled, dropped a few books and looked up to see her two friends' faces grinning mischievously at her. Laughing, she said, "Hi to you too."  
  
Akina's grin grew wider and she handed her a card and a balloon. "Sorry. I forgot it was your birthday, so I couldn't really get anything better."  
  
"That's alright. Thank you, Akina!" Kohana said happily. 'Nothing can bring me down today, let alone someone not getting me a wrapped present.'  
  
Michiko grinned, handing her a wrapped gift. "Ha! I remembered," She said to Akina. Turning to Kohana, she said, "You can open it whenever, I don't really care. Anyway, let's go, we're going to be late for biology if we don't go now."  
  
"And I gotta get to history," added Akina.  
  
Kohana was suddenly more alert. "Oh right, let's go." As Kohana set off to the classroom on the other side of the hall with Michiko, she smiled to herself. 'This is going to be the best birthday ever.'  
  
She had no idea what she was going to find out later that day.  
  
It would change everything.  
  
~Kohana's House~  
  
Kohana walked into her house, holding a pile of birthday presents that had accumulated throughout the day. "I'm home!" Kohana listened for a response. All she heard was silence.  
  
"Hello?" She placed the presents on the kitchen table and headed towards the living room. She peeked inside and looked around. Completely empty. She decided to look upstairs. Kohana quietly walked up the stairs, where she heard familiar voices getting louder as she came closer.  
  
"No, you can't tell her now, Miroku! It's her birthday. This is her day, and I won't let you ruin it! "  
  
Kohana knew that they were talking about her. She took a few steps closer to the room.  
  
"Mrs. Higurashi, Kohana's not the little baby she used to be. She's fifteen, Mrs. Higurashi!"  
  
'Mature enough to know what?' She thought curiously.  
  
"I still don't think you should tell her."  
  
Kohana stood in the doorway. "Tell me what?" She said quietly.  
  
They both blanched at the sound of her voice, realizing that she had heard what they said. Miroku and Mrs. Higurashi turned to face her.  
  
Mrs. Higurashi spoke. "Kohana--"  
  
"Tell me what?" Kohana's voice came stronger.  
  
Mrs. Higurashi sighed. "Fine. Tell her." She headed down the stairs.  
  
Miroku motioned for Kohana to sit down. "Come here, Kohana."  
  
Kohana walked to the seat next to him.  
  
Miroku took a deep breath. "I'm going to tell you what you should've what you should've known before. This is what we should've told you a long time ago."  
  
Kohana's heart pumped a little faster. "So? What is it?" She tried to sound calm, suppressing the anxiety she felt over his words.  
  
"Remember when your parents disappeared? You were barely a year old. And it was on a business trip, didn't we tell you that?"  
  
"Yes.." 'So what's your point?' she thought.  
  
"Well.. It wasn't exactly the type of business trip you probably thought it was."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Kohana, I know you probably won't believe me, I know this probably sounds crazy to you, but it's true." Miroku paused, as if he was pondering whether or not he should go on.  
  
"Yeah. okay, keep going."  
  
"Okay. The Higurashis, your mother's family, are a family of mikos.. You know what mikos are, don't you?"  
  
"Yes. Aren't they priestesses, with magical powers or something?"  
  
"Yes. Anyhow, your mother came from a line of mikos. Back in the Sengoku Jidai, there was a jewel called the Shikon no Tama. It had the power to either do incredible good to the world.. Or destroy all good."  
  
"Mm-hmm.." Kohana raised one eyebrow. 'This is pretty farfetched. Is he feeling ok?'  
  
"The Higurashis were entrusted with guarding the Shikon no Tama. Demons had tried to steal it before, but they were never successful. until you were about one year old."  
  
'I think I know where this is going,' thought Kohana. 'But does he really think I'm going to buy this crap?'  
  
"A demon named Naraku stole the Shikon no Tama from your family around then, and your parents went out to find him and the Shikon no Tama."  
  
"Miroku?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"You were right. I do think this story of yours is crazy."  
  
"You have to believe me, Kohana. It's the truth."  
  
~End of Chapter~  
  
That was the end of my first chapter.. It probably sucks, but I asked someone to read it, and she liked it, so I'm taking that as a good sign.. But now I want to know if anyone else thinks it's ok, so please review! "You were right. I do think this story of yours is crazy."  
  
"You have to believe me, Kohana. It's the truth."  
  
~End of Chapter~  
  
That was the end of my first chapter.. It probably sucks, but I asked someone to read it, and she liked it, so I'm taking that as a good sign.. But now I want to know if anyone else thinks it's ok, so please review! 


	2. Finding Tetsuseiga

Journey to Nowhere  
  
By silentrose24  
  
Summary:  
  
Kagome and Inuyasha disappeared 15 years ago. But why? Their daughter Kohana finds out on her fifteenth birthday, and decides to set out on a nearly aimless journey with one goal in mind: to find her parents. AU, R&R please  
  
Chapter 2: Finding Tetsuseiga  
  
Previously:  
  
"Miroku?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"You were right. I do think this story of yours is crazy."  
  
"You have to believe me, Kohana. It's the truth."  
  
Kohana looked at Miroku with a look of pure skepticism all over her face. "Well, what if I don't? Miroku, you just told me that my parents went to look for a magic jewel and got captured by a demon," she recalled. "Does that sound just a little insane to you?" she said.  
  
Miroku sighed. "Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but that doesn't mean it's not true."  
  
With each word he spoke, she grew angrier. She glowered at him.  
  
"Shut up."  
  
Miroku stared at her, a bit taken aback. He had never seen Kohana so angry before-- but he might've known this would happen.  
  
"You think it's funny, don't you? You think your little story's funny. I can't believe you! My parents disappeared so early in my life, I can't even remember them, and here you are, telling me that they haven't been around my whole life because of a demon," she said in an accusing tone, "which don't even exist?"  
  
Kohana shook her head. "You're unbelievable. You don't know what it's like to have no parents your whole life, searching for answers, not knowing what happened to them, and then after fifteen years, someone just comes along and gives you this fairy tale bull for an explanation." Her eyes blazed with fury.  
  
She stood up. "Well. Happy birthday to me." She whirled around and ran towards her room, slamming her door when she got inside.  
  
Miroku slumped in the chair he had been sitting in. He let out a heavy sigh. "I should've known that was going to happen."  
  
~*~  
  
Kohana sat on her bed, steaming over the little fairy tale that Miroku had told her. 'What kind of person gives that bull to someone as an explanation?'  
  
'I need someone to talk to.' She reached over for the phone on the nightstand. She quickly dialed her best friend's number. After three rings, Kohana heard the sound of the receiver being picked up. Then came Michiko's voice. "Hullo?"  
  
"Hey, Michi."  
  
"Ooh, hey, birthday girl! What's up?"  
  
Kohana sighed. "Oh, nothing much. Just Miroku has me pissed off major."  
  
"Ah. And now you need your best friend to make you feel better and stuff."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Hmm. Want to go for a bike ride around the park? I was about to go there anyway."  
  
Kohana's face brightened. She loved the park. And bike rides. "Oh, yeah, sure!"  
  
"'Kay. Meet you there."  
  
"Yeah. See ya." Kohana hung up and ran out the door, headed for the garage.  
  
~*~  
  
Kohana stepped into the garage, squeezing past the car, looking for her old bike. It'd been collecting dust in the back of the garage, and she'd been waiting for a chance to get out and ride it. This would be the perfect pick- me-up for someone who loved riding her bike around the park. 'This is gonna be so awesome,' she thought happily. She had completely forgotten about what Miroku had said to her.  
  
She stumbled in the dark, tripping over something. "Whoa!" her arms flailed out, searching for something to grab onto and keep her from falling. After closing her hand around a shelf. "What the hell was that?" She looked down, seeing some unidentifiable shape that aroused her curiosity enough to make her pick it up.  
  
"Whoa." Kohana eyes were wide in shock as she ran her fingers gingerly along the sword, unsheathing it. "This must've been dad's. Huh. Wonder how he got it," she mused. She stood holding the old, battered sword for a while, thinking. 'Ha. Well, it's probably too old and dull to do any damage. And it looks pretty cool. I'm going to bring it to the park and show Michiko.' She grinned. 'She's gonna freak.' She put the sword back in its case and tied it to her back. Turning around to continue her search for her bike, she bumped into some other unidentifiable object. This one being too large to pick up, she felt around it to identify it. She recognized it as her bike. "Oh, here's my bike!" She smiled in the dark. "Well, that was easy." She squeezed past the car again, this time with her bike.  
  
Once she got out of the garage, she hopped onto her bike and started pedaling fast, headed for the park.  
  
~*~  
  
"Take a look at this, Michi!" Kohana presented the sword to her friend.  
  
"Agh!" Michiko cowered in fear, shrinking into the left side of the bench they were resting on.  
  
Kohana just laughed at her friend's scared-ness. "Chill, Michi. It's not going to hurt you," she said in a mock, baby tone, obviously thinking that Michiko's fear was silly.  
  
Michiko looked at the chipped, damaged sword dubiously. "It could."  
  
Kohana sighed. "Well, it won't. Honestly, Michi. It's a just sword. And a dull one at that." Kohana twirled it nonchalantly.  
  
"A sword. Just a sword, she says. Gee, a sword couldn't hurt anyone, now could it?" Michiko muttered. Kohana threw it in the air. Michiko flinched. "Stop doing that! You might drop it-and hack off my arm or something--" She retracted into the fetal position, suddenly feeling protective of her arms.  
  
Kohana caught the sword by its handle, balanced on one leg. "No harm done."  
  
Michiko glared at her, still in the fetal position. "Well, there could be."  
  
"Trust me. There won't." Kohana slipped the sword back into its case and slung it over her back again, causing Michiko to breathe a sigh of relief.  
  
Kohana sat down and sighed. "Man, I'm so bored."  
  
Michiko sighed. "Yeah, me too."  
  
Kohana's face brightened. "Hey, you want me to--"  
  
"No! No swords!" Michiko interrupted sharply.  
  
Kohana shrugged. "Well, you definitely weren't bored then."  
  
"Well, I don't feel like fearing for my life right now," Michiko said flatly.  
  
Kohana sighed again. "Your call."  
  
The two friends sat slumped on the bench, bored. Michiko sat twisting a strand of her hair. Kohana just sat, staring straight at the soccer game that was ensuing in front of her.  
  
"Hey! Give that back!" A woman in a jogging suit and a man who had apparently stolen her Walkman zoomed by. Unfortunately, the woman wasn't very fast. The Walkman Thief was.  
  
Kohana jumped up and went after the man. "Not so bored now!"  
  
Michiko sat up, her eyes wide and fixed on her friend. Fully realizing what could happen, she winced. "Oy."  
  
Kohana caught up with the man. "Give the nice lady her walkman back," she said sweetly.  
  
The burly man scoffed. "Sure I will." He darted off, Walkman and all.  
  
Kohana kept after him. "All those track practices sure help."  
  
The man was obviously annoyed. "Lady, I've got a knife and I'm not afraid to use it!" He slowed down and took his knife out. The jogging lady gasped.  
  
Kohana unsheathed her sword. "So? I've got a sword and I'm not afraid to use it." Battered as it was, she was hoping it could scare him.  
  
"God, you're annoying." He grabbed the jogging lady, helplessly dumbstruck and shocked, and held her at knifepoint. "Just let me be with my new Walkman."  
  
"Oh, hell no. You better not." Kohana drew her sword. All of a sudden, it transformed. Into one huge, not-so-battered sword.  
  
The man gasped. He pushed the Walkman back into the jogging lady's hands, muttering apologies. He took one last look at the huge sword, and broke into a run.  
  
The jogging lady was awed. And again, dumbstruck.  
  
Kohana was too. She stared at the sword for a few moments. Then it shrunk again.  
  
"Whoa. Okay." Kohana slipped the sword back into the case. "I gotta go talk to Grandma."  
  
~*~  
  
Kohana parked her bike near the garage door and headed inside. "Grandma?"  
  
Mrs. Higurashi exited the kitchen, wiped her hands on her apron. She'd obviously been cooking something. "Yes?"  
  
"Um. what's this?" Kohana lifted the sword up a little. "It kind of-- got bigger. When I was in the park."  
  
Mrs. Higurashi gave it a look of recognition. "Ah. so you've found Tetsuseiga."  
  
Kohana looked at her grandmother blankly. "Um-- the sword has a name?"  
  
"Yes, you could say that." Mrs. Higurashi was silent for another moment, staring at the sword in slight disbelief. "Huh. I'd thought he'd brought it with him when he and Kagome went after Naraku." She sighed. "Guess not."  
  
"Naraku?" Kohana remembered Miroku mentioning him in his story.  
  
"Yes." Mrs. Higurashi glanced at Kohana, looking a little confused. "Didn't Miroku tell you? About why your parents disappeared--"  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Kohana put up a hand, motioning for her grandmother to stop. "So you're saying that all that. is true?"  
  
Mrs. Higurashi sighed, staring at Tetsuseiga again. "Yes." She turned to Kohana. "Why, didn't you believe him?"  
  
"Ah. no."  
  
Mrs. Higurashi sighed again. "Well, it's all true. So how far did he get?"  
  
"Just to that part about Naraku. He didn't really talk about anything else, actually," She recalled.  
  
"Ah." Mrs. Higurashi nodded, very familiar with that part. She motioned towards the couch in the living room. "Sit. You obviously haven't heard the beginning yet."  
  
~*~  
  
Sorry it took so long to update. ^_^; 


	3. Kohana's Decision

Journey to Nowhere  
  
Summary:  
  
Kagome and Inuyasha disappeared 15 years ago. But why? Their daughter Kohana finds out on her fifteenth birthday, and decides to set out on a nearly aimless journey with one goal in mind: to find her parents. AU, R&R please  
  
Previously:  
  
Mrs. Higurashi sighed again. "Well, it's all true. So how far did he get?"  
  
"Just to that part about Naraku. He didn't really talk about anything else, actually," She recalled.  
  
"Ah." Mrs. Higurashi nodded, very familiar with that part. She motioned towards the couch in the living room. "Sit. You obviously haven't heard the beginning yet."  
  
Chapter 3: Kohana's Decision  
  
~*~  
  
Kohana's eyes grew wider by the minute as Mrs. Higurashi explained to her how the whole quest for the Shikon Jewel started and stopped right before Kagome and Inuyasha would go off, searching for Naraku and disappear because of it.  
  
When Mrs. Higurashi finished, Kohana didn't say anything for a few moments. She had been shocked into silence.  
  
Mrs. Higurashi peered at Kohana. "Are you okay, Kohana?" Kohana was silent. Mrs. Higurashi sighed. "I knew we shouldn't have dumped all this information on you today," she said in a regretful tone. "I didn't want to, but Miroku was insistent upon it--"  
  
Kohana gave a weak smile. "That's okay, Grandma." She sighed. "Grandma?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Does the well still work?"  
  
"What do you mean?" Mrs. Higurashi inquired, sounding a bit anxious.  
  
"Does it still go back into the feudal era?"  
  
"Yes, it does." She eyed her granddaughter suspiciously.  
  
Kohana let out a small sigh. "Then-I suppose I'll do it then," she said, half to herself.  
  
"Do what?" Mrs. Higurashi eyed her granddaughter apprehensively.  
  
"Look for my parents-this is my chance, Grandma!" Kohana said fervently, her eyes shining.  
  
The absence of her parents had taken a toll on Kohana-she had handled it much better than expected from someone as young as her, but she had always been the adventurous type, and had always wanted to meet her parents. This made a very bad combination-at least, in Mrs. Higurashi's eyes it did.  
  
Mrs. Higurashi looked at her granddaughter. She knew she couldn't stop Kohana, who was just as stubborn as her father. Kohana was the heroic sort, headstrong and determined. She knew Kohana had wanted to meet her parents for so long-- but she couldn't let someone else she loved leave her so suddenly without a fight, could she? She couldn't risk losing someone else she held so close to her heart again..  
  
"Kohana.." She began. She hesitated, trying to find the best way to express her feelings about her granddaughter going off to find her parents.  
  
"What?"  
  
Mrs. Higurashi must've decided to just say what was on her mind, because she cried, "Kohana, don't you get it?! Your parents have been gone for fifteen years! They're probably dead, or have been brainwashed by Naraku or something," she continued fervently, naming a few ominous possibilities, "and I don't think they're coming back anytime soon." Her voice choked with the tears that she had obviously been waiting to cry for a long time. "You don't have to go, and besides, Kohana, I can't just let you go like that. I can't afford to lose another person I love." She looked at Kohana, her face stained with tears. "I can't risk it. I can't let you go without a fight."  
  
It was only just then that Kohana realized how hard it must've been for her grandmother to lose her daughter and son-in-law. Sure, losing her parents was hard for Kohana. But she had never known them. She had no memories of their faces except in pictures, old ones that the color was beginning to fade out of. She didn't know anything about them except from stories, stories told by Miroku and Sango and her grandmother. But did she know them? No.  
  
But her grandmother did.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry," said Kohana. "I never realized how hard it must've been for you." She trailed off. "I'll think it over, then." She said resolutely. She was pretty sure that she was going to go search for her parents, but after this--? No. She had to think about it. She didn't want to break her grandmother's heart like this if it was so unnecessary.  
  
Her grandmother's smile lit up her face, reminding Kohana fleetingly of the sun peeking out behind clearing rain clouds after a storm.  
  
"Thank you, Kohana." Mrs. Higurashi smiled feebly at her granddaughter. "But please-don't go if you don't have to." She looked at Kohana with pleading eyes.  
  
"I won't," she promised. Not unless I have to.  
  
~*~  
  
That night, Kohana went up to her room and called Miroku to apologize for the way she'd acted earlier that day. After he had accepted her apology, she told him that she wanted to go to the Feudal Era and look for her parents.  
  
"You want to look for Kagome and Inuyasha?" He hesitated for a moment. "Well, that's noble of you. But it won't be easy if you're alone during your trip. You'll probably need someone to go along with you."  
  
"Yeah, I know that. But that's not the only problem." She explained to him about how her grandmother felt about her going off to look for her parents and asked for help on the matter.  
  
Miroku chuckled. "This is a matter of-- complex emotions. I think you'd better ask Sango for help."  
  
"Is she home?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Can you get her?"  
  
"Of course." Kohana heard his voice faintly, calling for his wife. A few seconds later, Sango was on the line.  
  
"Hello, Kohana."  
  
"Hi, Sango." She repeated what she'd said to Miroku about her going to the Fuedal Era to look for her parents and about how Mrs. Higurashi felt about her going to the Feudal Era. "He said that this was emotion stuff and that I'd better ask you for help."  
  
Sango laughed. "Well, Miroku's like most men. One thing you should know about them, Kohana. Men are like mascara. They run at the first sign of emotion."  
  
Kohana burst into giggles, which intensified when she heard Miroku yelling in the background ("Hey, I heard that!"). "Anyway, can you help me?"  
  
"Hmm." There was temporary silence on the other end of the phone. Evidently, Sango was thinking about what advice to give her. After a couple of minutes, she spoke. "It's your decision, Kohana, so I can't tell you what to do. Just think it over. Think about how important all of these things are to you, and in the end, make your own decision. I'm not sure what else to tell you. Just-- go with your heart. I know it sounds pretty corny, but that's always helped me when I was faced with tough decisions like these."  
  
"Okay. Thanks, Sango." Kohana really didn't think she had helped much. She also didn't think that Sango would be able to help her much more.  
  
"No problem," replied Sango.  
  
"See you."  
  
"Yeah, see you," echoed Sango. "Bye."  
  
"Bye." Kohana heard a click on the other line before she hung up.  
  
She threw herself onto her bed and let her head fall back into the pillows. 'Well, this has been some birthday,' she thought. 'It's definitely the strangest one I ever had.'  
  
She let out a sigh. Twirling a lock of her black hair, she began to do some of the thinking that Sango had advised her to do.  
  
~*~  
  
She woke up the next morning, seeing the warm September sun streaking through her window, the ray of light ending on her bed. Apparently, she'd fallen asleep while she was thinking the whole thing over. Kohana had always been fearless, and was brave enough to face anything that would come her way in the Feudal Era. But her valiance had made her blind to the dangers that she had just realized last night, after talking to Sango.  
  
She let out a sigh. This was all so overwhelming. But what could she do, now that she knew what had really happened to her parents? Now that she had a chance to actually know her parents and meet them for herself?  
  
Her head was spinning now. She'd obviously not thought this through enough when she told her grandmother what she'd planned to do. She lay in her bed, thinking again.  
  
What was she supposed to do? Embark on a dangerous journey to find what she'd always wanted to find, despite how unlikely it was that she'd find it? Or should she just not risk it and stay back in her own time, safe. but not quite satisfied?  
  
She sighed again. She was close to making her decision, but the uncertainty of what she was leaning towards made her wonder-how on earth was she going to pull this off?  
  
'Oh well,' she thought. 'I might as well just tell Grandma first.'  
  
~*~  
  
Everyone who read the summary should know what her decision is. ^__^ Anyway, if you liked the chapter, then do me a favor and review! ^__^ 


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